The September 2023 appointment of Rustem Umerov as Ukraine’s defense minister was well received at home and abroad.
Noted for his youth and corruption-free record, the 41-year-old has been a top negotiator in talks with Russia. But what has drawn the most notice is Umerov’s ethnic background as a Crimean Tatar, representing an often-overlooked part of Ukraine’s Indigenous history.
Crimea has a long history